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. 2022 Jun 24;22(1):364.
doi: 10.1186/s12887-022-03419-7.

Molecular epidemiological surveillance of viral agents of acute lower respiratory tract infections in children in Accra, Ghana

Anna Aba Kafintu-Kwashie #  1 , Nicholas Israel Nii-Trebi #  2 , Evangeline Obodai  3 , Margaret Neizer  4 , Theophilus Korku Adiku  5 , John Kofi Odoom  6
Affiliations

Molecular epidemiological surveillance of viral agents of acute lower respiratory tract infections in children in Accra, Ghana

Anna Aba Kafintu-Kwashie et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI) in children under 5 years is known to be predominantly caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In recent times, however, human metapneumovirus (HMPV) has also been implicated. This study sought to investigate and genotype respiratory syncytial virus and human metapneumovirus in children presenting with ALRTIs infection at the Princess Marie Louis Children's Hospital in Accra, Ghana.

Methods: Children below 5 years who were clinically diagnosed of ALRTI and on admission at the study site were recruited between September 2015 and November 2016 for this study. Demographic data information was obtained by means of a standardized questionnaire; and relevant clinical information was obtained from medical records. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 176 children recruited for the study. Ribonucleic acid was extracted from swabs and cDNA syntheses were performed by RT-PCR. RSV-positive amplicons were sequenced and analyzed for genotype assignment.

Results: RSV and HMPV prevalence among the sampled subjects were 11.4 and 1.7% respectively. Of the RSV positives, 8/20 (40%) were RSV-A and 12/20 (60%) were RSV-B. The highest prevalence was observed in children less than 12 months old. Phylogenetic analysis of the second hypervariable region of the RSV G-gene revealed that all RSV group A viruses belonged to the "novel" ON1 genotype containing the 72-nucleotide duplication; and RSV group B viruses belong to the BA IX genotype.

Conclusion: RSV is frequently detected in children aged under 5 years admitted with ALRTI in Ghana. Continued surveillance of viral aetiological agents is warranted to elucidate the prevalence and transmission patterns of viral pathogens that cause respiratory tract infections among children. This will help inform appropriate intervention approaches.

Keywords: ALRTI; Children; Ghana; HMPV; Molecular epidemiology; RSV.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Monthly distribution of RSVA, RSVB and HMPV over the study period. Monthly distribution of viruses detected from samples collected over the period of September 2015 through to November 2016. Vertical bars show the number of participants sampled in the respective months. Coloured lines depict the frequency of detection of the various viruses, with RSV B (green) being highest, followed by RSV A (red) and HMPV (yellow line) in order of magnitude
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Neighbour-Joining trees representing phylogenetic analysis of RSV genotypes isolated in Ghana between 2015 and 2016. The tree was constructed using the Neighbor-Joining method (Saitou N. and Nei 1987). “The optimal tree with the sum of branch length = 0.90679067 is shown. The percentage of replicate trees in which the associated taxa clustered together in the bootstrap test (1000 replicates) are shown next to the branches (Felsenstein 1985). The tree is drawn to scale, with branch lengths in the same units as those of the evolutionary distances used to infer the phylogenetic tree. The evolutionary distances were computed using the Maximum Composite Likelihood method (Tamura et al., 2004) and are in the units of the number of base substitutions per site. Sequences from this study are shown in bold green color and designated by the geographic location (GHA-PML), patient number and year of collection. The genotype clusters are indicated on the right side of figure. Only bootstrap values greater than 70% are displayed at the branch nodes
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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